Repairing panels of vehicle bodies



June 9, 1925.

P. DOWLING REPAIRING PANELS OF VEHICLE BODIES PeTeT I) ow Vm f Ammer Patented .lune 9, 1925.

UNETE '.STATES..

PETE?, BOWLING, OF PATERSON, NEW JERSEY.

Raramente Pil-Nats os vvVEHICLE BODIES.

Appiifcatibn inea oktober i1, 1924. seiiai No. 743,170.

To all 507mm ff'zf may canoe/'71j Be it known that l, Pn'rsn BOWLING, a citizen of the United States, residing at Paterson, in the county ot Passaic and State et le? ew vJersey, have invented certain new and' usetu-l niprovements in Repairing Panels ot Vehicle Bodies, ot which the tollowing is a specification. Y

Panels tor vel'iicle bodies are now usually composed ot' exterior thin layers ot sheetmetal '(as galvanized iron) and an intervening thickness ot a lighter substance, as wood veneer or creosoted paper, all cemented together, the idea heilig to provide a panel presenting a hard smooth surface suitable to receive an attractive painted finish and not be easily damaged by a blow andv which will' be strong and yet relatively light in y weight.V vThen these 'panels have been heretofore damaged, as vby being dented or having a hole punched in them, it has been regarded as practically impossible to repair them in such a way asl to restore the outer surface tothe condition of a perfect plane and omit elements that would reveal thatthe panel had been patched. The object ot this invention is to provide a method of patching a damaged panel ot the class indicated in such a way that the outer tace thereof willl be lett `a perfect plane and when the same is repainted the panel. will not reveal that a patch exists.

ln the drawing,

Fig. l is a fragment ot a lpanel that has been damaged by having a hole punched therein;

F ig. 2 shows the panel after the portion damaged has been cut away to torni a hole ot some. conventional form convenient tor the performance ot the method ot this invention;

Fig. 3 shows the panel and a patching piece ot the same material laid on a suitable support and undergoing the peenine step ot this` invention;

Fig. 4 shows the parts after the uniting substance, as solder, has been applied in the groove that results from the peening operation;

Fig. 5 is a similar view, showing the `joint thus formed smoothed ott;

Fig. G shows the repaired panel; and

Fig. 'T illustrates a modification of the invent-ion.

The panel shown in the drawing consists oit two exterior layers a a ot thin metal,

when in use on the vehicle), but when the as layers ot wood veneer. At c, Fig. l, is

shown a hole that has been'punched in the 6U panel. 4

Generally the portion ot the'pauel' which includes this hole should be cut away, in the performance of my invent-ion, to leave an aperture (Z (Fig. 2) ot some conventional and convenient form, as rectangular. l

rlhen a piece c of the panelin'g' shapedv 'to lit the aperture is provided and the panel. is laid on a suitable support aiii'ording a plane surface, whereupon the piece e is fitted into the aperture in contact with the support, as shown in Fig. 3. The object of this is to provide a backing in the performance ot the next step in the method and formamtaining the panel and patching piece in the same` plane when they undergo the uniting step.v

' Then with a chisel lf/ or other suitable tool, whose edge is applied in the crevice /z between the patching piece and panel, the edges ot the top metal' layers of the panel and piece alongthe cre-vice are peened down all around, so thata groove t' results. l

Next with the use ot a fiux or acid applied to the surface ot thev groove all around solder jis applied to form a joint between the top niet-al layers ot the panel and patching piece as in Fig. et. Finally this'solder, which should be made to completely till the groove at least, is smoothed ott all around to the plane in which the top surfaces of said top layers lie, as shown in Fig. This completes the work, unless .in the case the pane-l has at each tace a metal layer, when it desired the operations ot peening, soldering and (it required) smoothing may be repeated at the opposite tace.

A salient feature ot my invent-ion is the peening step. The metal layer is usually so thin that solder or any other bonding material can not be made to obtain on its mere edge a hold sufiiciently effective to maintain the patch in place (against the vibration and jarring which these panels undergo lili? peening is done there results a broadening ot the effective Contact surface by as much as the edge portion of each metal layer is peened down.

Another important feature of my method when 'the bonding material, as solder, is applied in molten form and the thickness L is of material that heatrwill erode more readily than the metal layers ofthe panel and patching piece', is that the molten bondingmaterial Jr'orms for itself in such thickness b of the panel and patching piece a space 7c appreciably wider than the crevice left existing between the top metal layers of'said panel and patching piece, soV that the bonding mass when it sets is as it were locked in place. This is shown in Figs. l and 5; it is also shown in Fig. 7 in which this feature of the invention has been illustrated independently of any peening and where it is assumed to be possiblel if the crevice between the top metal layers of theV panel and patching piece is wide enough to insure the bonding material entering the creviceas by the edge portion or said layers having been removed as shown at The invention broadly contemplates litting the metallic patching piece in the aperture ot the metal layer of the panel, then while supporting the panel and patching piece with the latter in the saine plane as the metal layer of the former peening inward the metal at their contiguous edge portions andY thereby forming a depression, and then depositing a molten bonding substance in said depression.

Having thus fully described my invention, what I claim is:

1. The hereindescribed method of patching an aperturcd panel having a metal outer layer and compressible material backing the same, which consists inffitting a patching piece of paneling 'having a metal outer layer and compressible'material backing the Ysame into the aperture of the panel'fand so that the metal-layers and the backing material of the panel and piece are in coincident planes, then while supporting the panel and piece peening inward the metal at the contiguous edge portions of the layers and thereby Vforming a depression, and then depositing a bonding substance in said depression. 2

2. rihe hereindescribed method of patching an apertured panel having a metal outer layer and coinpressible material backing the same, which consists in fitting a metallic patching piece in the* aperture of the metal layer, then while supporting the panel and patching piece with the latter in the same plane as the metal layer of the former peening inward the metal at their contiguous molten bonding' substance to and between the contiguous Yportions of said layers, whereby said bonding substance will erode the backing material of the panel and on setting form an interlock between the patching piece and the panel.

In testimony whereof I aiiix my signature.

PETER noWLING. 

